By Mohammed Ali

Remi Garde's side dropped valuable points on the road, as elsewhere, Saint-Etienne's form picked up again, and Nice returned to winning ways

LORIENT 2-2 RENNES

Rennes rescued a dramatic late point as the European hopefuls played out a 2-2 draw against fellow continental hopefuls Lorient at Stade du Moustoir.

In a bright opening from the hosts, a fluid attacking move from Kevin Monnet-Paquet saw Yann Jouffre put Christian Gourcuff's side into the lead.

Mevlut Erding had already missed a golden opportunity, but he made amends when he converted an equaliser, latching onto Jean II Makoun's threaded pass to round the goalkeeper.

The Bretagne rivals were both searching for a winner, knowing it could impact on a surprisingly tight European race, and it appeared that Lorient had clinched it when Jeremie Aliadiere slammed a delightful shot past Benoit Costil into the net with 10 minutes left.

However, further drama ensued as Alex N'Gando - moments after making his Ligue 1 debut - tapped in at the far post to claim a point, with his first touch.

SOCHAUX 1-2 SAINT-ETIENNE

Saint-Etienne's revitalised form saw them pick up a third successive league win against Sochaux at Stade Auguste Bonal on Saturday.

Edouard Butin equalised with a fine finish, assisted by Sloan Privat, but Fabien Lemoine restored Sainte's slight advantage with a well worked goal, from Renaud Cohade's cross.

Guilavogui should've put the visitors out of sight beforehand, but a golden opportunity presented itself when Sebastien Roudet handled in the area.

Aubameyang stepped up, but saw Pouplin parry away his spot kick, as Sainte held on to secure a morale-boosting victory.

BORDEAUX 2-0 VALENCIENNES

Bordeaux secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Valenciennes to propel them into fourth, whilst condemning Valenciennes into the bottom half of the table.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, from the unlikeliest source. With Yoan Gouffran transferred to Newcastle and Cheikh Diabate away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Mali, up stepped David Bellion - of former Manchester United fame - to turn in from close range.

That marked Bellion's first Ligue 1 goal since December 2009, but Valenciennes rallied after that setback, with Younousse Sankhare seeing his effort parried away by Cedric Carrasso.

Despite the visitors' best efforts, it was Bordeaux who struck the next, and most important goal as Ludovic Obraniak beat Nicolas Penneteau with a powerful effort to seal the win.

LILLE 1-1 TROYES

Lille's poor run of form continued as they were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Troyes at Grand Stade Lille Metropole on Saturday.

It was Rudi Garcia's side who enjoyed the better of the opening proceedings as Nolan Roux and Tulio de Melo both saw efforts stopped by Yohann Thuram-Ulien.

But Jean-Marc Furlan's struggling outfit rallied, and Florian Jarjet saw his header just clear the bar, with Benjamin Nivet and Stephane Darbion also active.

And they got their reward too, as Fabien Camus broke the deadlock to hand Troyes a shock lead. Lille, however, got the equaliser late on through teenage star Divock Origi, who took advantage of a lapse in defence to head home - in the 17-year-old's top flight debut - but there is no hiding from the 2011 champions' current woes.

BASTIA 0-0 EVIAN

Bastia will be wondering how they were held to a 0-0 draw by Evian after dominating in the two sides' league meeting at Stade de l'Abbe Deschamps - home of Auxerre.

Evian, who remain just above the relegation zone in 16th, courtesy of Sochaux's defeat earlier, were particularly mute in attack, and failed to offer any serious threat.

In stark contrast, Bastia hit the post twice - Anthony Modeste's header cleared the post, before Claudio Beauvue slammed the crossbar with Betao also clearing off the line.

Kevin Beriguad spurned Evian's sole chance, but Bastia travel to PSG next, hoping to spring a shock after a night of frustration.

STADE BREST 0-2 NICENice picked up their first win in three games in all competitions, as they saw off a toothless Brest side at Stade Marcel Picot on Saturday.

Claude Puel's young side lost Dario Cvitanich - their top scorer - to injury in the opening stages, but substitute Xavier Pentecote immediately kept Alexis Thebaux on his toes.

Nemanja Pecjinovic opened the scoring a quarter of an hour in, as Bruno Grougi cleared off the line in vain, as the Serbian struck with aplomb.

Brest failed to rediscover their previously decent home form, and were rather limited after selling Eden Ben Basat to Toulouse in the transfer window, but they ended the half strongly as Grougi saw David Ospina parry an effort away.

Nevertheless, Nice hit the ground running in the second half as Brahim Ferradj unfortunately turned into his own net after Camel Meriem's hooked shot as Nice shot to fifth, albeit on goal difference from Bordeaux in fourth.

AJACCIO 3-1 LYONAjaccio ensured that it would be Paris Saint-Germain who stay top of Ligue 1 this weekend after completing a shock 3-1 win over Lyon on Sunday.

Alexandre Lacazette put the visitors ahead soon after the break, as he converted in from Rachid Ghezzal's cross to finally break the Corsican side's resolve.

Adrian Mutu - still far behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the top goalscorer standings - headed home from Johan Cavalli's cross before sealing a massive victory from the penalty spot following Dejan Lovren's third red card this season.

MONTPELLIER 3-1 STADE REIMS

Montpellier roared back into European contention with a comfortable 3-1 win over Reims, who threatened to pick up a first win since October.

Gaetan Courtet wasted a brilliant opportunity right from the off, but found the net half an hour in, with a beautifully placed header to hand the visitors a shock lead.

The champions fought back in the second half, and equalised three minutes after the interval through Souleymane Camara, who tapped home after Henri Bedimo saw his shot saved.

Marco Estrada nudged Rene Girard's men ahead from a superb free-kick before Younes Belhanda - returning to the club following Afcon duty and a failed Fenerbahce transfer - sealed victory.MARSEILLE 1-0 NANCYMarseille's winning record against Nancy came to an end as the league strugglers sprang a huge shock, winning 1-0 at Stade Velodrome to severely dent OM's title hopes.

In a tight first half, the visitors created the better of the chances with Romain Grange and Paul Alo'o Efoulou testing Steve Mandanda in the OM goal.

The visitors - who have only one win since opening day - produced a performance which belied their lowly league standing as Alo'o Efoulou fired wide after being put through by Bakar.

The game-changer came when Joey Barton was shown a red card for two bookings in quick succession, as Elie Baup threw on new signing Foued Kadir - back from the Africa Cup of Nations following Algeria's exit.

And it got worse for the hosts, as their set-piece frailties became apparent again. Grange's corner took a slight deflection off Andre Ayew and past Mandanda to silence the rowdy Velodrome faithful.

Nancy held on to inflict a seventh defeat of the campaign on OM, who now sit six points behind PSG ahead of the Clasico later in February.